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Cops: Mother implicated in son’s alleged sex assaults

A young boy awaiting sentencing in a child-sex assault case is accused of sexually assaulting yet another child, despite a court order barring the boy from unsupervised contact with children under 18, according to the Mesa County Sheriff’s Department.

Moreover, authorities allege the boy’s mother allowed her son in contact with children, despite the court order.

Alex Pankey, 12, was arrested Tuesday and is being held at Grand Mesa Youth Detention Facility on suspicion of sexual assault on a child, sexual assault on a child as a pattern of abuse and misdemeanor violation of a protection order, the sheriff’s department said in a news release.

Pankey’s mother, Debra Pankey, 52, was arrested Wednesday and booked into the Mesa County Jail on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She posted a $7,500 bond that same day.

Authorities allege she knew her son was banned from contact with children under 18, stemming from a guilty plea in January to sex charges involving another child. She was served with a protection order in the case in Sept. 2009, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
The affidavit alleges Debra Pankey drove her son to the home of the boy’s latest victim despite the protection order, while providing no warning to the girl’s parents. Alex Pankey allegedly sexually assaulted a girl twice, once in her backyard and again in her bedroom, between July 28 and August 29, the affidavit said.

The boy had been the focus of sex-assault investigations four times in 2009 and 2010, and had pleaded guilty and was awaiting sentencing in one sex assault case, the affidavit said.